Elon Musk will manage the leader of Germany's AfD far X before the election | Election News

Billionaire's interest in Europe divides opinion – while other leaders cry, Italian Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni insists there is 'no danger'.

Elon Musk has urged German voters to support the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in next month's national elections while broadcasting with the party's leader.

The US tech billionaire, who will play a role in the administration of US President-elect Donald Trump, broadcasts live his interview with Alice Weidel, the chancellor candidate of the AfD, through his social network X on Thursday.

More than 190,000 X accounts were included in the discussion, which saw Musk present Weidel as “the best candidate to run Germany”, warning viewers that they should vote for the party “otherwise things will be very, very bad for Germany”.

“Only the AfD can save Germany. The end of the story,” he said.

Musk, who is expected to be an adviser to the Trump administration, has been vocal in his support for far-right groups in Europe, showing a strong interest in the economy of Germany, where he is opening his Tesla car company's first European factory in 2022.

During the interview, Musk doubled down on his support for the AfD, an anti-immigration, anti-Muslim party, and previously expressed his thoughts in X-texts and an opinion piece published by the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.

Musk and Weidel acknowledged that Germany was plagued by “crazy” energy policy, excessive bureaucracy and uncontrolled immigration, comparing the media's treatment of the AfD to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler's treatment of pro-Semitic voices in the 1930s.

“People like to criticize things they don't agree with,” said Musk, who insisted that Weidel was proposing “nothing bad”.

Musk, a self-described libertarian, called German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier a “dictator” for criticizing the AfD and called on Chancellor Olaf Scholz to resign after a deadly car attack at a German Christmas market last month.

Both men are members of the centre-left Social Democrats.

'Lies and misinformation'

Leaders across Europe have expressed dismay at Musk's political meddling. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez accused Musk of undermining democracy, without naming him directly, while France's foreign minister called on the European Union to strictly enforce its rules to prevent foreign interference.

But Italian Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni, who leads the far-right anti-immigration Brotherhood of Italy, defended Musk on Thursday.

“I do not see this danger to the will of the people. Elon Musk is a very famous and rich person who expresses his ideas,” he said.

Meloni's government is currently weighing a telecommunications security contract dependent on Starlink, part of Musk's SpaceX venture.

The Italian leader says that Italy is faced with the problem of how to protect its critical communications since there are currently no other Italian or EU-backed programs on Starlink.

But the project has been heavily criticized by opposition groups questioning whether such communications management should be given to Musk's company.

“Is the problem with SpaceX that it's a private company, or Elon Musk's political views?” Meloni asked.